Electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is of great significance to produce clean, sustainable, and cost-effective hydrogen. However, the development of low-cost and high-efficiency non-noble-metal catalysts with a combination of superior catalytic activity and long-time stability still remains a challenge. Herein, we demonstrate a rationally designed three-dimensional architecture assembled from one-dimensional molybdenum carbide (MoC)-based nanoribbons where the MoC nanoparticles are embedded within the nitrogen-doped crystallized carbon nanolayers (MoC@NC nanoribbon). Such unique architecture of the MoC@NC nanoribbon not only provides abundant edge active sites and multielectron pathways for efficient mass/charge transportation but also greatly accelerates the hydrogen release from the reaction surface, thus boosting its electrocatalytic performances for HER either in an acid or in an alkaline aqueous solution. This advance provides a promising candidate toward the replacement of the noble-metal-based catalysts for a highly stable and efficient HER electrocatalysis.
Keywords: exposure active sites; hydrogen bubble release; hydrogen evolution reaction; molybdenum carbide nanoribbon assembly; ultrastable performance.